special friends

His trust, and friendship, after such an awful start in life is second to none.

I've nearly always had a dog for most of my adult life. My first was a rescue and a springer spaniel. I loved him and tought there would never be another dog to take his place. But as I was young and starting out with my family, I never 'trained' him as such. He walked beside me, protected me and my boys. I'm afraid to say that my ex was not so good with him and he had the rough end of his tongue, and foot. Hence the ex, especially when it came to my kids too.

When he left us, I was devasted. However, a few years later when my new partner joined me in my home, he looked at me one day and told me about our next dog, Kya. She was a shepherd x collie and was due to be taken to a dogs home. I did not want another dog as I could not imagine loving one as much as my springer. But needless to say she came home with us. She was my hubbie's dog and she had 14 good years with us.

Now I have Duke. I saw his pictue online and l fell in love with him straight away. I begged to go look at him although he was over 100 odd miles away. We arranged a date and when we saw him my hubbie took one look at his skinny, filthy, smelly dog and did not want him. However, he opened his car door, and I could tell he did not want him. But Duke just jumped right in and looked him square in the face and that was it! He was also hooked.

The journey home was a very smelly one. He was so dirty, covered in all sorts of mess including the poo kind. I think sometimes that we rescued him from the rescuer. A bath later and he looked so skinny, really just a bag of bones. And he was just ~ home. Even the vet said that although his health was good he was painfully thin.

Just 3 short months later and he is so my best buddy. I can't imagine life without him. And he is such a star too.

My last dog was a Bassett Hound and I had to have him put down because of an injury to the disc in his neck. It was such a painful decision but I knew that it was the only one that could be made because there wasn't anything that could be done for him. He was unable to walk, was in terrible pain and would just lie there and shake.

He was a wonderful dog and like you in my divorce I took him with me and was so glad that we were finally away from a terribly abusive man. Blue was such a loyal dog and was very protective of me. Whenever I was sick and unable to get out of bed he would stay right with me and refuse to leave me, even to eat. I never thought there could be another dog, but so desperately needed one.

Then I brought home Max and altough he is totally different than my dog Blue he too has won my heart. I trully feel terrible for anyone that does not have a special friend like that in their lives.

I too feel sorry for anyone that doesn't have a dog for a best friend. My last toy poodle Button's always knew when I was down or upset. He would climb up on my lap and lean his head against my chest and snuggle close as if to give me a doggy hug! He died of heart failure at age 12 1/2 and I was heart broken. Emma is of a totaly different personality, but I love her all to pieces. Now Pepper is growing on my heart every day. My husband grew up in a family that the only pets you had in the house were fish! He never understood the draw of having a dog. (I had always had dogs growing up and they were a part of the family) Since getting Emma I think he finally understands. Emma just adores him and I have even seen him allow her to give him doggy kisses on the face. (He always used to tell me "You know they don't use toilet paper!) He always greets Emma and makes a fuss over her when he gets home from work ( and now Pepper too) I see the smile on his face when playing with them and know that he is now hooked!:dogtongue2:

Good for you for rescuing a dog. I think it's the best way to go. When I got Zena, she was way too skinny, had sores on her butt, and basically just acted twitchy and weird.
When I came home with a scrawny, awkward unhappy-looking dog, my husband looked at me like I was crazy. He now loves the dog as much as I do...he'll even let her up on the bed after her bath!
She's wonderful. More intelligent than she needs to be, devoted, almost perfect, relly. She just needed good people. I shudder to think what would have happened to her if there wasn't a Shepherd rescue in our area.
I still miss my previous shepherd, though. I'm glad, in a way, that Zena has coloring 'flaws' and orange eyes. I have a hard time looking into dark shepherd eyes and not thinking of Zelda,my first dog love.
I'm such a geek, I actually have coffee cups with my dogs pictures on them, one with Zelda, one with Zena.Today I'm using the Zena cup.

Hello Dog Trick Academy,
this post of mine isn't certainly worth of attention compared to all the ones here in the Academy, but, anyway, I like to post some news of mine to celebrate life coming up just in time with Spring:cheers2:. I have a pair of dwarf bunnies named Sanson and Dalilah. I named them with a male and female name but I wasn't so sure they could be m and f. I made my research in the Net and I got assured, after a careful exmination, tat they were m and f. Well, just twelve days ago Dalilah delivered five wonderful puppies:welcome:. So very nice!arty: It's so wonderful to see new lives springing! It's so wonderful to ralize how little miracles happen every day! Life is so precious and just like Native American People say we are all related and every creature should respect the other one! Birth, Life, Respect, Honour, Community,...."And I think to myself: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD!".:great:
Landseer and Chantal

JosieBell, what a great story, all the other posts are so great, too. So wondeful you recued him, even long distance like that!! I did that too, everyone thought i was nutz, but i just needed to save that dog. So I just got a new dog myself, after two years of no dog after our last BC died, :msnheartbroken: and i can't believe how much joy our dog brings to us!! Like a lil comedian living here!

I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN about worrying if you could love the next as much as the last, i loved Toby so much and he was one unique lil being to never be replicated---but each dog surely is unique, quirks and all, with their own distinct personalities, and our Buddy is almost kinda opposite of our old Toby, but we are so in love with him already!! Buddy is our lil gangsta dog, arrived here with a "tough guy" stance, :dogdry: but has mostly let go of his tough guy ways, getting mellower and happier each day. It is like watching a flower bloom before your eyes, isn't it?

There are so many perks to living with a dog! From small, subtle ones to huge ones. We talk and laff more about our dog, we kid about each other by saying stuff to the dog about each other, our moods are happier now, the warmth you feel in your heart as it turns over in love for the dog........ha, our dog, being a herding breed, is also always egging us all to get into the same room, ha ha!!:msngiggle: Our Buddy so relaxes so much more if he can get us all into one room, is hilarious, "Ah, now my job is done. Everybody is herded up nicely here where i can keep an eye on them.":dogbiggrin:

A lil furry guy to love and work on getting him to love and trust us too. We are outside in nature even more now, which is always good for anyone, and re-acquainting with neighbors with dogs, laffing and smiling so much more. It's almost like medicine for your soul.CONGRADULATIONS on your new family member!!!